1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for configuring computer based training equipment associated with a physiological monitoring product and the physiological monitoring product itself. In particular the invention relates to a method that queries a user with questions to configure the physiological monitoring product, wherein the method provides a data structure that is used to configure the physiological monitoring product and the computer based training equipment.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Vendors in the medical electronics area have historically delivered training to customers by instructor-led courses for the medical electronics product. Other training devices have included self-paced workbooks, and audio and video based training media. However, each of these training mechanisms has received mixed acceptance and has mixed effectiveness.
In the health-care industry, computer based training is not frequently used, and even when it is used, the training is generic and is not adaptable to a particular environment where the medical electronics product may be used or to a particular configuration of the medical electronics product. In other words, computer based training has historically had the drawback of having relatively fixed, generic lessons. Accordingly, the instructor-based methodology for training, where the instructor adapts his or her presentation to accommodate the specific configurations of the medical electronics product and the environment in order to demonstrate the medical electronics product and train the user on the medical electronics product, has been a much more widely accepted method for training. However, some drawbacks of instructor-based training are that it is expensive for the customer and doesn""t offer the flexibility for accommodating hospital schedules and staffing paterns.
Some additional disadvantages of the existing methodologies for configuring a medical electronics product and customer training on the product are, for example, that the customer, when configuring the product, may have insufficient information to make appropriate decisions as to which product setting to select, and thus the product may be configured incorrectly. Also, as discussed above, the computer based training methodology is not adaptable to the different configuration options that are available for the medical electronics product and therefore does not provide adequate training for the different configuration options. Thus, the existing methodologies may be expensive, may lead to incorrect customer-made configuration choices on the product and may result in inadequate training of the users of the product.
It is an object of the invention to improve upon the conventional methodologies for training customers using a product and for configuring the product. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus that allows a user to tailor lessons of a computer-based training device according to predefined product settings stored in a data structure and a method and apparatus for configuring the product according to the predefined product settings within the data structure.
According to one embodiment of a method of configuring a product and a training device associated with the product according to the present invention, at least one query of a product setting is provided to a user of the training device or the product. The user, in response to the query, provides a response including a selected product setting. A data structure containing at least one field corresponding to the product setting is updated to indicate the product setting indicated by the response. At least one of the product and the training device are configured according to the at least one field in the data structure. With this method, the product and the training device for the product can be configured according to a previously defined data structure having previously defined product settings.
In addition, the method may include the step of providing the user with sufficient information to allow the user to provide the response to the at least one query. With this method, the data structure can be created or modified without the need for additional information other than that provided by the method and apparatus and without the need for, for example, a customer representative to be at a location where the product and the training device are located.
Furthermore, the step of configuring the training device according to the data structure may include the step of configuring questions asked by the training device, according to the data structure. With this method, the training device can be tailored to test the user on the specific configuration of the product. The training device can also be used, for example, by a manager to track the progress of the user on the product and the results may be used, for example, to obtain certification of the user to operate the product.
According to a physiological monitoring system for monitoring characteristics of a patient of the present invention, the physiological monitoring system has at least one configuration option that may be set to any of a plurality of settings and a means for configuring the physiological monitoring system according to a data structure. The physiological monitoring system also includes the data structure that has at least one configuration field corresponding to the configuration option and a corresponding product setting. With this arrangement, the physiological monitoring system can be configured according to the data structure that can be predefined with the product setting. The physiological monitoring system can be provided to a customer with, for example, the data structure having factory set product settings. The user can then revise the data structure with the method of the invention and the system can be configured according to the revised data structure without the need for, for example, an on site representative and without the need for additional information to be provided to the user.
One embodiment of a training device associated with a product having a plurality of possible product settings has a plurality of lessons for training the user on the corresponding product. At least some of the lessons instruct the user about the operation of the product for a particular product setting. The training device includes a data structure having predefined product settings and a means for configuring which of the lessons will be presented, by the training device, to the user according to the data structure. With this arrangement, the training device can be configured to tailor the lessons of the training device to predefined product settings and to train the user on the apparatus configured according to the product settings.
One embodiment of the training device includes a plurality of questions that may be presented to the user to test the user""s understanding of the product. The means for configuring the training device also determines which of the plurality of questions will be presented to the user according to the predefined product settings within the data structure. With this embodiment, the training device can be used to test the user""s understanding of the product for the configuration of the product.
According to an embodiment of a computer system of the invention, the computer system can be used to generate a data structure containing at least one field corresponding to a configuration option of the product and including a product setting. The computer system has a memory storing a plurality of queries corresponding to product settings of the product. The computer system also includes a display for displaying the plurality of queries to a user of the computer system and an input device for providing a response to each of the plurality of queries. The computer system also includes a means for updating the data structure to the product setting provided by each response.
According to one embodiment of the computer system, the memory may also include information that can be provided to the user to allow the user to respond to the plurality of queries without the need for additional information.
Another embodiment of the computer system includes a training device having a plurality of lessons for training the user on the product and a means for configuring which of the lessons will be presented to the user by the training device according to the data structure. One embodiment of the training device may include a plurality of questions that are presented to the user to test the user""s understanding of the product and a means for configuring which of the plurality of questions will be presented to the user according to the data structure.
With this arrangement, the data structure can be generated and updated to include desired product settings of the product. In addition, with this arrangement, the training device can be configured to provide lessons according to the product settings within the data structure and to train the user on the product for the specific product settings. Further, with this embodiment, the training device can be used to test the user""s understanding of the product for the specific configuration of the product. Moreover, with this embodiment, the data structure can be used to configure the product to have the product settings within the data structure.